United States v. Godinez, No. 19-3425 (7th Cir. 2021)
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ATF agents and Chicago police officers went to the “Back of the Yards” neighborhood to replace court‐approved global positioning system trackers on cars belonging to members of the Latin Saints gang. Shortly after the officers arrived, they came under gunfire. A federal agent was shot and seriously injured. Godinez, a member of the gang, was charged with the shooting. In the government’s view, Godinez, tasked with guarding the neighborhood, mistook federal agents for rival gang members and shot the agent.
The Seventh Circuit affirmed Godinez’s convictions for forcibly assaulting a federal officer while using a deadly weapon, 18 U.S.C. 111(a) and (b), and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A)(iii). The district court properly admitted ballistics evidence concerning the shots fired. Although the gun was not recovered, that does not render inadmissible the physical evidence (casings) that was recovered. The chain of custody need not be perfect. Testimony about a gunshot detection system— ShotSpotter—should have been handled differently. The court did not adequately explore ShotSpotter’s methodology before admitting the evidence. A rational jury, even without the improperly admitted evidence, could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Godinez shot the agent.
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